Guittard 70% Cacao Epique Blend No. 49.

Flavor: Blah


Texture: Blah

Blah

On the scale of 1-10, scores above 5 meaning 'would get again' and below 5 meaning 'don't bother with this again', I'd give this a very equivocal XXX

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Bissingers 60% Dark Chocolate

I like Bissinger's chocolate. I remember the first bar I bought on a whim, pompously thinking that a chocolate made in St. Louis couldn't be much of anything. What do they make in St. Louis other than frozen custard and pizza? Well, they make excellent chocolate, is what.

Flavor: The package gets it right: "Smooth and intense with a long, satisfying finish." The chocolate flavor is rich and does have a long and satisfying finish.This chocolate is on the sweet side of semi-sweet, but I didn't find it overwhelming.

Texture: Smooth. Nicely smooth.There's no hint of waxiness or crunchiness.

On the scale of 1-10, scores above 5 meaning 'would get again' and below 5 meaning 'don't bother with this again', I'd give this an overall 8.This is a good chocolate bar.

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Taza 70% Dark Stone Ground Chocolate (Dominican Republic Cacao)

This is an unusual chocolate. It's different in flavor and texture from the "normal" type of chocolate bar in a way that's very discernible (but possibly difficult to convey).  Because it's so different, it's hard to even set expectations or rate this chocolate relative to others. When they packaging says "unlinke anything you have ever tasted," they aren't kidding.  My own initial reaction bordered on the shocked - the first bite seemed awful. I had to step back and consider my assumptions and then taste it again without preconceptions. And in doing that, I found that what I disliked about the texture was compensated with rich flavor.

Unlike some products (e.g. wheat bread) where "stone ground" has no implications, here the stone groundedness is fundamental. The chocolate is gritty and flavorful.

Flavor: This is a full flavored chocolate with many flavor overtones. The flavor profile is rich - the flavors follow one another in succession. The first flavor is a slight sourness, followed by a very full chocolatey round flavor and a follow-on that's sour again. There's nothing insipid or shallow about this bar!


Texture: Think mud pie. I've never eaten a piece of mud, but I imagine it would have this texture. It's sandy, semi-soft yet still holds-together muddy. I'm not a fan of this texture, which is very much not-smooth. But perhaps this is the price to pay for the full, unprocessed flavor.

Overall, this chocolate is definitely interesting, and I'd recommend it as companion piece to taste and contrast more traditional, smoother chocolates. I'm not sure that I like it well enough on its own to just enjoy it. It's too forceful in both flavor and texture.

I struggle to rate this chocolate, because it's so different, and so I find this rating to be particularly subjective. On the scale of 1-10, scores above 5 meaning 'would get again' and below 5 meaning 'don't bother with this again', I'd give this an overall 6.0.

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Gamla Savage Coffee Artisan Gourmet Chocolates

Flavor: This is a tasty chocolate that delivers on the promise of coffee flavoring. If you like little bits of coffee nibs in your chocolate, this bar will do it. I found the chocolate itself too sweet. My experience was: 1. pop in mouth, 2. mmm.. nice coffee flavor, 3. oy! too much sugar, 4. water! help! I think coffee is so good that it's hard to mess up coffee flavored anything, and probably one of the only two ways of doing that are with too much sufar and with a bad texture. Read on.


Texture: I prefer a creamy, smooth experience, and this bar doesn't offer that. The texture is somewhat waxy and hard and brittle.

The packaging is nice, and attempts to offer a feeling of luxury. The individual pieces, though are an awkward size, especially because the chocolate itself is so hard and brittle that if you pop a whole piece in your mouth, you're gagging, and if you try to bite a piece off, you can't.

Overall, this chocolate is okay for  a curious taste, but not worth getting twice. 

On the scale of 1-10, scores above 5 meaning 'would get again' and below 5 meaning 'don't bother with this again', I'd give this a very equivocal 4.9.

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